Compressive and tensile properties of CuZrAl alloy plates containing martensitic phases

In this study, (CuZr)95Al5 and (CuZr)90Al10 alloy plates with thickness of 1 mm were prepared by suction cast. Microstructural characterization shows that (CuZr)95Al5 plate contains strip-like martensite phase and the (CuZr)90Al10 plate contains sparse CuZr nanocrystals distributed at the amorphous matrix. Thermal stabilities of the two alloys were measured by DSC. For the evaluations of mechanical properties, rectangular blocks and dogbone specimen were cut off from the alloy plates and used for room temperature compression and tensile tests respectively. It reveals that significant work hardening with 5.5% plastic strain before failure were obtained for (CuZr)95Al5 under compression tests, while (CuZr)90Al10 exhibits very little plasticity. In tension, both alloy plates exhibit high fracture strength before catastrophic failure. The interaction between the shear bands and martensite phase were studied and the deformation behavior of the both alloys was discussed.